Laundry room vent to attic ?

[sidwelle]

Can I vent my laundry room (not dryer) w/an exhaust fan directly to attic ? We get a lot of heat in our 6x6' laundry room and need to get the heat out in the summer.

Thanks in advance.

[Dean Hoffman]

Which is cooler, the attic, or the laundry room? Heat rises, of course, but you might not gain anything depending on the temperature difference.

[sidwelle]

When the dryer runs, the laundry room is hotter in the summer. I was going to install a exhaust fan. Considering a second fan to push that hot air into the house in the winter months.

[trader_4]

Probably OK if it's used just in summer. In colder weather, if the air was humid then it will condense and possibly cause dampness, mold, etc. But it likely does not meet code either and each fan like this leads to more heat loss in cold weather too.

Where is all this heat coming from? Laundry room here has the AC vent closed and never gets really hot, the dryer runs for an hour or so, it doesn't warm up the space much. You also have to factor in where the replacement air is coming from? If it's from inside, is it AC cooled air that's going to replace it? If so, may be just as well to leave a door open to the rest of the house and cool off the laundry room that way.

[trader_4]

Where does this dryer vent? Outside or into the room? How long is it run? I've had many dryers, never had one where there was any significant heating of the room. I've heard of people venting the dryer inside the house to get heat from it, but never from a laundry room with a normally vented dryer. IF it's vented outside, have you checked to make sure it's actually going there, pipe isn't disconnected, etc?

[Cindy Hamilton]

No. The exhaust has too much moisture. Vent it outdoors, unless you like the idea of mold in your attic.

Cindy Hamilton

[Ed Pawlowski]

Vent it outside. You can go through the attic to a soffit vent if you have to but venting into the attic can potentially cause problems. Laundry rooms are often humid, bad for attics.

[sidwelle]

Probably a 30' run to the sofet. Guest bath is next room over and has vent to outside. Ok to couple the two exhausts in to 1 pipe w/a Tee ? Both exhaust fans have chk valves.

[micky]

If it's that far to the outside, where does your dryer itself put its exhaust? How do you know that's not the source of heat in the room.

If you've been using a vinyl hose, they wear out after a while. Even metal can become disconnected. Or they can clog, though that depends on what you dry -- I've never had any problem with clogging.

There are valves that will direct dryer exhaust to the room in the winter when you need both the heat and humidity, and to the outside in the summer. You have to flip the valve twice a year.

[sidwelle]

My dryer is gas, I dont really want to vent the dryer in the house or attic. Just get the heat out of the laundry room.

Thanks

[Clare Snyder]

You likely CAN - but it's not a good idea. Vent it tothe outside

[Clare Snyder]

The short answer is NO

[sidwelle]

I live in a condo, and making holes in outside walls is very tricky. Association wont approve and b very upset if I do anything w/o asking.

Joining the two or venting to the attic is the easiest solution.

[Hawk]

Venting to the attic WILL provide a great deal of moisture which will result in mold and could rot the framing and ruin the attic insulation, and lint from the dryer could create other problems. Most importantly, it's against IRC.

[micky]

Never thought about that. Are the combustion gases mixed in with the dryer air exhaust?

[gfretwell]

No

[Bubba]

Does a gas clothes dryer have two exhaust pipes?

[Cindy Hamilton]

I would say, "Not normally." However, I wouldn't stake my life on the separation of the two.

Cindy Hamilton

[slate_leeper]

Our old house in NY state was vented this way. We lived there 27 years. No problems. Passed home inspection when we sold it.

[sidwelle]

To b clear, the exhaust fan will vent the room, not the dryer !